Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray sought to reassure migrant workers, many of whom gathered at Bandra railway station in the city seeking to return home, that lockdown was not "lock-up", and appealed them to stay back.
Conducting a live webscast on the coronavirus situation in the state, Thackeray briefly also spoke in Hindi, and stated that his administration was looking after migrant workers.
"These workers were told the trains will resume services from April 14 and hence they gathered.
I appeal them not to believe rumours," he said.
"The challenge is to tackle coronavirus by staying back. This is Maharashtra and we are one country," the chief minister said.
He warned that he will not allow miscreants to play with the sentiments of poor migrants and create a law and order problem in the state.
"Whatever the government is doing is for your good," Thackeray told migrants, seeking cooperation.
Nobody should do politics over this issue, he added.
The Maharashtra government was working on how to lift the lockdown and resume industrial activities, he said.
"We have set up committees to work on economic revival ....(to work out) which industrial units can be started. There are ten districts in the state which have no COVID-19 cases. We have to ensure these districts stay like that and also banish the virus from rest of the state," he said.
The rising number of cases in Mumbai and Pune was a cause of concern, but the government was taking effective steps to curb the spread, he said.
Saying that Maharashtra has conducted maximum number of coronavirus tests, the chief minister informed that the state government had asked the Centre to allow experimental trials of plasma treatment and BCG vaccine to treat COVID-19.
Research has already begun, he said, and expressed confidence that Maharashtra will show the way to defeat the virus.
While the state has reported 2,334 coronavirus cases (the number rose to 2,684 by the day's end), 230 persons had recovered, he noted.
Those recovered included a six-month-old baby and an 83-year-old woman, the chief minister pointed out.
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